Alibi V.19 No.25 • June 24-30, 2010

Bill Evans dances through the prime of life

By Patricia Sauthoff

Bill Evans returns to New Mexico for On Turning 70!, a performance of modern and tap styles that celebrates Evans’ 70th birthday. Evans is an emeritus professor of dance and former head of the dance department at the University of New Mexico and is a guest artist and undergraduate program director at The College at Brockport, State University of New York. He returns to New Mexico, where he taught at UNM for 16 years, with a program of modern dance and ballet.

The Latest

An Alibi staffer’s journey through impoverished Peru

By Ilene Style

My first reaction at seeing Villa el Salvador during my volunteer orientation was the same as everyone else's in my program. As we entered the neighborhood for the first time, we all fell silent, our eyes scanning the streets for something, anything, that would make us think, This isn't so bad after all.

Frank Cullen, founder of the American Vaudeville Museum and author of Vaudeville Old and New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America, is launching a series of classic film screenings at the Guild Cinema starting this weekend. Cullen will be on hand to host the inaugural festival, titled The British Are Coming! This four-day fest features classic films from the Golden Age of Comedy. Four films from England’s legendary Ealing Studios are slated for screening: 1951’s The Man in the White Suit; 1959’s I’m All Right Jack; 1949’s Whiskey Galore; and 1950’s The Happiest Days of Your Life. Admission prices are $7 per film or $10 per double feature. Cullen will be there to introduce each film and lead an audience discussion between double features. Trust me, the man knows his stuff. Future incarnations of this intermittent, yearlong festival will include When Comedy Was King in Hollywood (Sept. 17-22), The British Are Back (December) and Clowns and Idols of the Silent Screen (early 2011). For more info, log on to guildcinema.com or vaudeville.org.

An interview with writer/director Harmony Korine

By Devin D. O’Leary

At the tender age of 19, Harmony Korine wrote the controversy-courting screenplay for Larry Clark’s the-kids-are-not-alright opus Kids. He followed that by writing and directing a couple of bizarro, nihilistic dramas (or are they comedies?) about disaffected youth and their demented families (Gummo, Julien Donkey-Boy). In 2002, he reunited with Larry Clark for the seedy suburban drama Ken Park (a film so blunt in its depiction of sex, drugs and violence among teens that it’s still not available on DVD in America). In 2007, he directed his slickest, most expensive and most puzzling indie film, Mister Lonely. Now, in 2010, comes Trash Humpers, the 37-year-old Korine’s tribute to ... well, it’s hard to say.

“Futurama” on Comedy Central

By Devin D. O’Leary

When FOX announced it was bringing “Family Guy” back from cancellation following a hugely successful rerun stint on Cartoon Network, I wasn’t what you’d call super stoked. Personally, I didn’t find “Family Guy” funny the first time around, and I don’t find it funny now. But the decision to revive it made damn good business sense and was an amusing “screw you” to the programming executives who axed the show in the first place.

The Week in Sloth

Wicked-bad live music abounds this week—the gang and I just didn't have the space to cover it all. That, and I didn’t get an interview with Geddy Lee. That's OK, though—what the hell would I have asked him? "Um, soooo, Mr. Lee, are you from Middle Earth?"

Suicide Lanes road trips to Santa Fe

By Captain America

Just around the corner from Santa Fe Plaza, El Paseo Bar & Grill is not the most likely place in town to find garage rock. Enter Billy Miles Brooke, a musician whose past credits include glam cover band The Stardust Cowboys, a stage production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and some fine solo work. A couple of years ago, Brooke partnered with the establishment’s owner, Matt Chavez, to host the sporadic Indie Rocks series showcasing acts that normally wouldn’t make it to El Paseo’s usually sedate stage.

KillinGracy releases Hands Around You

By Jessica Cassyle Carr

“Rib eye rock on lightly toasted bread” is the meaty metaphor Chris Aguilar once offered an inquirer when describing his band, KillinGracy. Aguilar admits he had no idea what he was talking about at the time but says this style of shooting from the hip sums up the band's songwriting process and sound.

This flyer exhibits a skillful manipulation of positive and negative space and announces the summer tour kickoff for funk/rock/fusion act Lost Lingo. The band plays at Low Spirits (2823 Second Street NW) on Saturday, June 26, at 9 p.m. The Breaktone and Reviva open the 21-and-over show. Five dollars gets you in. (Jessica Cassyle Carr)

Kimo is an Albuquerque-based musician who has been “crankin’ out tunes” for nearly two decades. In addition to drawing a number of honors over the years, she was voted the Alibi’s best singer-songwriter in Best of Burque 2010. Right now, Kimo is working on a new album and booking shows with a new band (shhhh—more on that in due time). To tide you over, here are the five random songs that appeared on her shuffled iTunes.

Albuquerque once paid Ben Lowney around $60,000 for a public art sculpture near Los Altos Skate Park. But this month, the city told Lowney he’d have to remove the statues he made for free and installed in the median near his home.

Duke City Derby's home teams got their season off to a proper start on Saturday, June 19, holding the first official bouts of the season after last month's scrimmages. In the first bout, the DoomsDames held off the Derby Intelligence Agency (DIA) for a 115 –85 win. Later the Ho-Bots pummeled the brand-new Taos Whiplashes, smacking them around for nearly the entire match on their way to a 195-74 victory.

Councilor Debbie O’Malley read a proclamation for “Pollinator Week” in honor of urban bees at the Monday, June 21 Council meeting. Part-time beekeeper Chantal Foster, along with a handful of other city beekeepers, thanked the Council for declaring the city bee-friendly. Foster reminded everyone how important bees are in our ecosystem because they pollinate our crops, such as fruits, nuts and green chile. The proclamation encourages citywide bee-friendly practices, like avoiding commercial pesticides in home gardens.

Now here's a random one for you. Surf over to easytomiss.org/trail_map and find the Double Eagle Trail. It’s that isolated green stretch on the northwest edge of the map. This trail is hard to find and not conveniently linked to any major bike thoroughfares. But, if you're packing a reasonably sized set of huevos and a soupçon of wherewithal, there's a great ride to be ridden out there. You can approach the trail on westbound Montaño or via my preferred route, northbound Unser. The Unser trail gets pretty awkward near the end, merging with the asphalt of the autobahn and narrowing perilously just as it launches into a punishing uphill slope. You can handle it. Huevos.

Dateline: Germany—In one of the more surreal acts of forgotten-medication-based lunacy, a young Bavarian man is accused of taunting a group of Hells Angels by dropping his pants and throwing a puppy. The unidentified 26-year-old student allegedly drove onto the motorcycle clubhouse grounds in Allershausen, a town just north of Munich, and pulled down his Bermuda shorts, mooning a group of bikers. Witnesses say he followed that act by throwing a puppy at them. The man wrapped up his performance by fleeing the scene, then stopping at a nearby autobahn construction sight to steal a bulldozer, which he attempted to drive to Munich. According to the Munich daily newspaper TZ, the slow pace of the getaway vehicle caused a three-mile traffic jam. After making it less than a mile down the road, the 26-year-old hitched a ride with a truck, which let him off in Eching, not far from Munich. Police lost track of him briefly but finally found him. He told police he had neglected to take his medication for depression. He was checked into a psychiatric clinic for evaluation. Meanwhile, the puppy he chucked at the Hells Angels was taken to an animal shelter in Freising.

No, caffeine junkies, it's not a triple shot of espresso, dumped into a cup of coffee with java whipped cream on top. Or whatever you people drink these days to stay awake. Triple Espresso is a performance by three dudes out only to jolt the funny bone. Or to put it another way, three guys walk into a coffee shop: a musician, a magician and a jack of all trades showman. Have you heard this one? Anyway, to avoid giving away the punch line, let’s just say the hair of the dog is the best medicine, but laughter is pretty good, too. Sold? Get your fix June 24 to July 1, Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays at 5 and 7 p.m.; and Sundays at 2 p.m. It costs $28 for adults and $14 for kids. Go to tripleespresso.com for details about the KiMo Theatre (423 Central NW) performance of the hilarious story of three kindly fellas who get their four-minutes of fame, only to mess the whole thing up. The comedians of Triple Espresso have been working together since 1995 and their show has been seen all over the U.S., Canada and Europe.

Heights Village shopping center at Montgomery and Juan Tabo is getting an infusion of new energy. Zorba's Fine Greek Dining is in the space adjacent to Il Vicino and only steps away from Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Zorba's opened its doors only days before the newest Sunflower Market held its grand opening on June 1 in the space formerly anchored by Western Warehouse.

The Mediterranean diet

By Ari LeVaux

You can see the painted palm trees from I-25 and Osuna, where Barry’s Oasis lives up to its name as a reprieve from the blistering concrete just outside the door. Inside, the high-ceilinged dining room is decorated like a beachy patio. There are faux balconies crowded with potted plants. Umbrellas shade tables and hang overhead, diffusing sunshine from skylights set into the seagull-adorned ceiling.

Alibi V.19 No.24 • June 17-23, 2010

Foundation fights to keep ghost bikes standing

By Patrick Lohmann

Three months after cyclist David Anderson was killed near Paseo del Norte and Rio Grande Boulevard, the black auto paint smeared on a nearby brick wall is beginning to peel off. Fresh silver fencing replaced about 20 feet of rusty fence destroyed by a car careening off the road. It, too, is beginning to weather. And the flowers placed in front of Anderson’s roadside memorial have long since wilted.

I know you think I'm going to tell you again about how I gave my dad a shingle with a hole drilled in it for Father’s Day, how he scornfully cast it aside and I was ashamed. No, I won't tell you that one.

The Paseo del Norte trail has an awkward dead-end terminus just east of the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute on Coors. If you have to haul your bike out to the trail with your car, this would be a convenient place to park. If you'll be arriving on two wheels, join the Paseo del Norte trail at its intersection with the Paseo del Bosque trail.

Grassroots protest exhibits the vulnerability of the human body

By Marisa Demarco

State law is pretty specific about what constitutes indecent exposure—the primary genital area, or "mons pubis, penis, testicles, mons veneris, vulva or vagina." What's not on that list? Butts and female nipples.

Dateline: England—A first-time paraglider almost became a paraplegic after breaking his back in two places trying to fly a machine he bought for 300 pounds (about $440) on eBay. Roy Dixon didn’t take any lessons on how to use the unpowered airplane, but he did watch several clips on the Internet. “I should have joined a club and got lessons,” the 45-year-old told BBC News. “But I was trying to teach myself and learn from bits I had seen on YouTube.” Speaking from Newcastle General Hospital after the incident, Dixon admitted he had been “quite foolish” for tethering the bargain-basement plane to his car like a kite and attempting to get some air near his home in Hexham, Northumberland. “The thing you should never do—which I did—was tether it to a solid object.” Dixon and his paraglider spent less than a minute in the air before plunging to the earth. “I went shooting up in the air, then banged down on the ground. Then I went up again,” Dixon said. “As I was dropping, I was thinking, This is serious.” Dixon broke two of his vertebrae, which may need to be fused.

The historic KiMo Theatre in Downtown Albuquerque is going back to its roots (in a high-tech way) by showing movies again. The city venue has partnered up with Emerging Pictures, a network of high-definition digital download projection systems linking theaters across the country. KiMo will kick off this new partnership on Saturday, June 19, with London Calling: Live in Hyde Park,a live concert performance featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. The concert is just the first in a series of upcoming performances of live simulcasts and HD screenings. Emerging Pictures’ new digital projection system will allow the KiMo to present opera, ballet, concerts and film festival selections. Yes, they will be showing the occasional classic or independent art film as well. I have it on good authority, for example, that the KiMo staff hopes to assemble an Alfred Hitchcock retrospective for Halloween week. Tickets for this Saturday’s screening of London Calling: Live in Hyde Park are $15 a person and available through the KiMo box office or ticketmaster.com. The screening starts at 8 p.m. with an opening reception at 7 p.m.

When Father’s Day movies go wrong

By Devin D. O’Leary

Dads don’t always have it so easy. Sure, they get one special Sunday out of the year to lie around in their Barcaloungers, be showered in singing Hallmark cards and maybe take a trip to K-Bob’s Steakhouse for the World Famous All-You-Can-Eat Salad Wagon. The rest of the year, they’re obliged to earn a living, fix stuff, raise kids and referee crappy Pee Wee Football games.

“Memphis Beat” on TNT

By Devin D. O’Leary

A few months back, Entertainment Weekly ran an article on the long history of Hollywood’s various attempts to sequelize the 1985 Chevy Chase crime comedy Fletch. For years, apparently, Kevin Smith tried to reboot the series with acting pal Jason Lee (Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Clerks II). It’s a bummer that particular pairing never happened, because it sounds awesome. Lee is an underrated talent. His work on NBC’s white trash sitcom “My Name Is Earl,” for example, was impeccable. But the guy only seems to hit the big time when he signs onto junk like Alvin and the Chipmunks. So until Alvin and the Chipmunks 3 gets the green light, Lee has found himself a home on TNT.

The Week in Sloth

The most radiant gloom you’ve ever heard

By Captain America

Despite relentless recording sessions, not long ago it seemed like no one could keep the Prids away from Albuquerque. In 2003 and 2004, the band played here every eight or nine months. Not that anyone was complaining, mind you. In fact, bassist Mistina La Fave and guitarist/lyricist David Frederickson have cited New Mexico as one of their favorite stops due to the always warm and grateful reception they’ve gotten in the Dirt City. In 2008 a nearly fatal van accident threatened to halt the constant gigging, but the band recovered and jumped back on the road. Unlike many outfits that eventually retreat to the relative calm of the studio, it’s unimaginable to think of the Prids not touring. The only thing that trumps the band’s 10 CDs, EPs and 7-inches is its galvanizing live shows.

Idris Goodwin is a hip-hop sundae

By Summer Olsson

Idris Goodwin is the Neapolitan ice cream of words. He’s a rapper, an HBO Def Poet and an award-winning writer. His material mixes and serves the best elements of these genres. He’s also a “hip-hop educator” who has lectured in institutions across the country on themes like culture and empowerment. Literary journals have published him and clubs have played his music. Goodwin is from Chicago but has duel residence in Illinois and New Mexico. The cherry on top is that he’ll perform as part of the Wordstream Poetry Series at the Harwood Art Center on Friday, June 18. (Full disclosure: In 2006 I acted in Goodwin’s play Braising.)

Popular series gets a makeover

By Mel Minter

The 2010 edition of Women’s Voices, the nearly annual concert series that showcases the area’s exceptional female vocal talent, introduces new curators, a new concept and a new schedule. The series will forgo the usual smorgasbord of pop, jazz and blues on back-to-back nights to offer two distinctly different events. The first is Ladies Sing the Blues on Saturday, June 19, curated by Joan Cere (formerly Griffin). The second is Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan on Saturday, July 10, curated by Patty Stephens.

Done in coarse permanent marker with proletarian flare, this outsider art depicts a blown-out umbrella amidst a downpour. Or does it? Perhaps, rather, it’s an elephant eating grass? Or maybe it’s purely abstract. What’s certain is the performance of lo-fi San Francisco indie bands Telephone Hat and Filbert, along with Albuquerque’s CanyonLands, at Winning Coffee Co. (111 Harvard SE) on Friday, June 18, at 7 p.m. This event is all-ages and free to the people. (Jessica Cassyle Carr)

My knitting hero, I’ll call her “Our Lady of Crafting,” once advised me, “make a hat or a scarf for a boyfriend—never a sweater.” I think her guidance had something to do with commitment. I listened and, last Christmas, made and gave away a hat to a special somebody. By February, the hat was lost. Thing is, I know where it was lost. It was lost at Maria’s in Santa Fe. I know because the hat was with us when we walked in and gone 20 minutes after we left. But it was eventually found, for sale, at Buffalo Exchange. The hat misplacer and I just happened to be shopping that day when I found it (and a $9 price tag). I think they only sold it back to us at a discount to get the crazy lady (me) out of the store. Being crafty is fun, so get your do-it-yourself on or support someone who already has!

In the pulpit with Aux Dog Theatre

All the train's a stage

By Patricia Sauthoff

It's an ordinary Saturday afternoon on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express. Travelers head north to Santa Fe, no one pays much attention to one another—until, suddenly, a voice comes from the back of the car. A young woman, face hidden by a baseball cap and magazine, snaps to attention and responds. Thus begins a scene from As You Like It.

It’s Los Ranchos Growers’ Market opening day, and when I arrive at 7 a.m., a lively crowd is already jockeying for position around the stalls. I find Hand To Mouth Foods, LLC where Jeffrey Lee and wife Elaine DiFederico offer tables full of starter plants, assorted greens and carefully packed early harvests. I’m looking for breakfast, and in the midst of the greens is a tempting array of baked goods. I walk away munching a piñon-spangled custard tart, saving an onion galette and a fruit tart for later.

Neighborhood Vietnamese joint is in the groove

By Ari LeVaux

Come for the emissions testing, come back for the duck soup. That's the brilliant business model that almost was, but isn't. It turns out 2000 Vietnam Restaurant and Saigon Express Emissions Testing, in an attached garage on Zuni and San Mateo, are separate businesses. But I'm still coming back for the duck soup.

Alibi V.19 No.23 • June 10-16, 2010

You’ll actually want to go to the hospital. Really.

By Samara Alpern

“My children.” That’s what Dr. Jonathan Abrams calls the the gangster crouching in a silver gelatin print, the frail lilacs rendered with watercolor, the photo of a caped gray dog emerging from the water. Abrams is an art collector and emeritus professor of medicine at UNM Hospital, and he thinks of the all the artworks he has acquired over the years as his babies.

PJ Sedillo and Tony Ross put everything on the line for Albuquerque Pride

By Laura Marrich

Once you go, you know. Gay pride events have an energy unlike any other. They're blobs of Silly Putty rolling on a calendar, collecting a year's worth of impressions into one big, colorful gob. There's the romance of Valentine's Day, the all-American sizzle of Fourth of July, the candy-coated spectacle of Halloween, the goodwill and generosity of Christmas. And everyone buys shots like it's their birthday. Minus the shots thing, it's no wonder children love pride parades.

It's been in effect for 17 years. Openly gay, lesbian or bisexual men and women can't serve in the armed forces. Specifically, they’re barred from showing a tendency toward homosexual acts. The policy also prevents the military from rooting out those hiding their sexual preferences. Still, estimates suggest as many as 13,000 people have been discharged, and thousands more decided not to re-enlist because of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.

A hundred or more people carrying flowers, white crosses, flags and heart-shaped cardboard signs showed up at the Monday, June 7 City Council meeting. They were protesting Albuquerque’s policy of allowing federal officers to check the immigration status of everyone who is arrested.

Don't forget your water bottles, you guys. It's getting hot out there. Betty Sprocket has been sweating so profusely she feels like she was baked in a salt crust after getting home from a ride. Today we're riding the South Diversion Channel trail in a big loop that circumscribes some South Valley neighborhoods and industrial yards, a short portion of Rio Bravo, and the dry, open throat of the South Diversion Channel itself. Get on at the southernmost tip of the Paseo del Bosque trail (near Rio Bravo and the river) and keep going south. Paseo del Bosque becomes the South Diversion Channel. I guess you could ride east on Rio Bravo and do the loop clockwise, but it's better to start out going south. The views are typical South Valley tableaux: junkyards, panels of endearingly bad graffiti, those dirt-bike-trail-covered hills rising up in the east. O, the many faces of Albuquerque. I love them all so much! Finish your ride coasting downhill on Rio Bravo, being sure to check out all the sweet South Valley rims you'll see rollin' by. Does anyone know where to get chrome dubs specially made for the velocipede? I'm ... asking for a friend.

I just spent a year campaigning for lieutenant governor. Looking at the experience through the lens of some of the many numbers involved gives a peek inside electoral politics. It also offers a glimpse of how much work it will take to recapture democracy in New Mexico. Consider these digits:

A Santa Fe County woman pled guilty to misdemeanor charges of impersonating a police officer on Friday, May 28, in return for probation and community service. Police said in August that she pulled someone over using flashing lights and a bullhorn. She attributes her lapse in judgment to "an unrecognized psychological obsession, brought on by many years of wanting to be a police officer."

Dateline: India—Media outlets are reporting that local police are keeping a pigeon under armed guard after it was caught on an alleged “special mission of spying” for neighboring Pakistan. The white bird was found by a resident of India’s Punjab state—which borders Pakistan—and taken to a rural police station near the city of Amritsar. The pigeon had a ring around its foot and a Pakistani phone number and address stamped on its body in red ink. Police officer Ramdas Jagjit Singh Chahal told the Press Trust of India news agency that the bird was suspected of landing on Indian soil with a secret message—although no note was actually found. To be safe, officials in the northern state ordered that the animal be held in an air-conditioned room under 24-hour-a-day police guard and that no one be allowed to visit it. According to PTI, senior officers have asked to be updated on the situation three times a day.

You've run amok in rainbows, you've been prouder than your mom was that time you got second place in the spelling bee back in fourth grade, and you’re all paraded out. Have no fear. There are several low-key, movement-unintensive ways to cash in on someone else's air conditioning. Holla.

This Friday and Saturday, June 11 and 12, the State Film Office will host its very first Film Finance and Distribution Conference. This free conference is open to all local filmmakers and will shine its focus on micro- and low-budget productions. If you’re hoping to get an independent film going here in the Land of Enchantment, this is a fine place to start. Panelists include reps from the New Mexico Taxation & Revenue Department and key NMSFO personnel. Friday’s topic will be “Maximizing Your New Mexico Film Incentives,” while Saturday’s topic will be “Film Financing & Distribution.” Certain select participants in Saturday’s session will be invited to take part in a practice film pitch session with producer Suzanne Lyons (The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things, Candy Stripers). The two-day event will take place at the National Hispanic Cultural Center (1701 Fourth Street SW) in Albuquerque. To register, log on to nmfilm.com.

Reboot of cheesy classic offers few kicks

By Devin D. O'Leary

Despite (or perhaps because of) a certain temporal, dawn-of-the-MTV-era cheesiness, The Karate Kid has become a fondly remembered classic of ’80s cinema. It spawned several sequels, frequent shouts of “Sweep the leg!” and is now responsible for a 21st century series reboot. Like all nostalgic reboots (an update of The A-Team also hits theaters this weekend, for crying out loud), it’s hard to tell if the world really needs this new version. Probably not, but we're stuck with it. So, let’s examine what we’ve got.

Tasty tidbits from around the dial

By Devin D. O’Leary

“Torchwood” Still Burning—Seems there’s still a spark of life in BBC’s adult “Doctor Who” spin-off “Torchwood.” The FOX network version of the show never came to pass (which I think we can all agree is a good thing). But now the American pay cable network Starz has announced it will finance a new season of the cult favorite—under the direct supervision of the BBC! The show, about a secret team of government agents hunting down dangerous alien technology, has been dormant since last summer’s epic Children of Earth miniseries. Starz president and CEO Chris Albrecht told the Hollywood Reporter that the new series “certainly will” have a larger budget than the BBC original. Considering what producers were able to pull off on a limited budget, it’ll be exciting to see what they can create with more dough. “Torchwood” creator Russell T. Davies is writing the new series, which he says will consist of a 10-episode story arc. The new show picks up where Children of Earth left off—which shouldn’t be too difficult, considering everyone in the cast but John Barrowman and Eve Myles perished. According to the official press release, the show will no longer be set in exclusively in Wales but will “widen to include locations in the U.S. and around the world.” Starz has had solid success lately with the salaciously historical series “Spartacus: Blood and Sand”—which certainly raises the hopes for a naked Captain Jack and Gwen. The new series premieres next summer.

Seven days of tubelicious treats and terrors

Man, oh, man. Besides this week being the annual big gay party that is Albuquerque Pride (see this week’s feature schedule), a handful of festivals of less rainbow-y stripes are taking place around these parts.

Horse Opera croons classic country

By Summer Olsson

Austin’s Horse Opera is an honest-to-goodness country band. The quartet’s debut album, Sounds of the Desert, is a two-steppin' joy chock-full of pedal steel and heartbreak. It’s fun. It’s lonely. It makes you want to jump in your car (or pickup truck, preferably) and drive a dusty road to Texas because, surely, that’s where the heartfelt music and dancing are happening. A look at Horse Opera’s photos shows earnest men in boots, cowboy hats and Western shirts. But wait a sec—these cowboys are really punk rockers.

The New Mexico Gay Men’s Chorus is beautiful, funny and fey

By Jessica Cassyle Carr

Members of the New Mexico Gay Men's Chorus say its creation was not unlike an old movie musical where someone suggests, “Let's put on a show!” The chorus came together in the fall of 1981, coinciding with the founding of Albuquerque community center Common Bond. The LGBT organization had asked its members to fill out an interest list, and founding member Alan Stringer rang up those who had checked music—all of them men—and learned that they wanted to sing. That group became the Brash Ensemble (as some were uncomfortable being in an openly gay chorus), performing mainly at Common Bond events for several years. Nearly 30 years later, the chorus—whose numbers have fluctuated between eight and 40—is still singing, and in addition to regular concerts in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, it has performed around the states and internationally as well.

Travel to a lawless space frontier where the atmosphere is thick with metal. On Saturday, Leeches of Lore, Boar Worship and one Big Ole Asshole will guide intergalactic pioneers through three heavy sets and one Honky-tonk interlude at the Rio Grande Satanical Gardens. Liftoff takes place at 9 p.m. and all seats cost $5. Don’t forget to pack earplugs. (Jessica Cassyle Carr)

God-Des is the divine half of hip-hop/pop/soul act God-Des and She. The duo, which dwells in the Big Apple but hails from the Midwest, got its start in the late ’90s and has been a big deal since its cunnilingual track “Lick It” appeared on “The L Word” a few years back. God-Des and She makes a stop in Albuquerque on Saturday as part of Pride Fusion (Hyatt Regency Downtown). Below are some random songs that appeared on God-Des’ iPod.

The secrets of Argentine-style wood grilling and a recipe for chimichurri

By Ari LeVaux

I've always enjoyed casual conversation and rarely been averse to chewing on a nice hunk of fat. But the expression "chew the fat" never resonated with me—until some mochileros showed me the phrase's literal meaning.